The Word Of God

It guides us in every aspect of our lives

We believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God in which God reveals the good news that He gives salvation from sin as a free gift to everyone who believes in His Son, Jesus Christ. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions . . . . it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God – not by works.” (Ephesians 2:1,4,8,9).

The purpose of the Bible is to tell us about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only Saviour from sin. The Bible says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) In the Old Testament, the saving work of Jesus Christ is promised, and prophesied; in the New Testament, God reveals the fulfillment of those promises and prophecies in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

By His life and death, Christ provided salvation for all who believe in Him. The apostle John, one of Jesus’ disciples, and an eyewitness of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, wrote a record of the words and actions of Christ, so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his Name” (John 20:31).

God requires that we put our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation. The Bible says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36) The promise of salvation in Jesus Christ is for everyone who believes the gospel, regardless of who you are or what you may have done. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) Jesus Christ is the Saviour from sin who came to make it possible for us to serve God again and to save us from condemnation. He did this by fulfilling all righteousness for us and paying the price for our sins.

Because it is God’s Word, we believe that only the Bible can be trusted to teach us what we ought to believe, and how we should live, for His glory and our salvation. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Psalm 34:8

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

WHY WORSHIP?

Does it Matter?

Twice every Sunday, at 9:30 AM and again at 2:30 PM, the Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church of Lincoln gathers together for worship services. Why do we worship together? Simply put, because we are the congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is our duty, and our privilege, to worship God. The Bible teaches us that the reason God saves us is “that we might be for the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12) This is our purpose as God’s people, and it happens in a special way in the worship service. We praise God by listening to the proclamation of His Word, by singing psalms and hymns to His glory, by offering our gifts as tokens of our thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus Christ.

What is a Worship Service?

The Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church of Lincoln follows a Reformed style of worship. Reformed worship is structured according to God’s covenant, that is, His relationship with His people. Worship is a special time of meeting and fellowship between the LORD as our God and us as His people, in which He speaks and we listen, and, in which we speak, and He listens. He is the focus of the service. Since we are sinful people and He is a holy God, we come before him with due humility and only through the one Mediator and eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ. While we know that in Christ, we may “draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22), we seek to “worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:29), conscious of the fact that we are worshipping the great Lord of lords and King of kings.

We are not free to worship God as we see fit. We need to discern from God’s Word how He wants us to worship Him. We believe that in the Second Commandment, God is telling us that we should not worship Him in any other manner than He has commanded in His word. This is why in the worship services at Vineyard, the preaching of the Word of God, congregational singing, and prayer are central to the order of worship.

In worship, as in all aspects of the life and ministry of His church, the Word of God is the rule and guide for all our decisions and actions. We gather in order to honour, praise, and glorify Him. At the same time, we receive from the LORD wonderful gifts – the forgiveness of sins and His providential care over our lives.

Receiving God’s Gifts

How do we receive these gifts? God gives them to us especially through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we receive them by believing the gospel. As we listen, we hear from the Bible all about God’s gifts, how He sacrificed His own Son to save us from our sins, how He sent His Holy Spirit to give us faith and to live in our hearts. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) In the gospel, God also teaches us how to live the new life He gives us in Christ, so that “our light may shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

A BIT OF OUR HISTORY

How did we get to be here in Lincoln?

The church is God’s work: He not only saves sinners, but also brings them together in His church. In the Old Testament God chose Abraham and his descendants as His people. Since the coming of Jesus Christ, God has opened the doors of His church as wide as the world: all nations must hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and believe in Him.

The Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church of Lincoln is part of this worldwide work of Jesus Christ. The Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church is a member of the federation of Canadian Reformed Churches. We are a catholic church – catholic with a small “c”, meaning, universal. That means that we confess and maintain the Christian faith as revealed in Scripture, and taught by the apostles, together with the faithful believers who have confessed it throughout the centuries, and who are found all over the world.

As a Protestant church, we have roots in the Great Reformation that took place in Europe almost 500 years ago. God raised up men such as Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in France and Switzerland, and John Knox in Britain to return the Church to the teaching of the Word of God. That Reformation spread throughout Europe, including the Netherlands, where the Reformed faith thrived, resulting in many Reformed churches.

Many Reformed believers were among the thousands who emigrated to Canada and the U.S.A. from the Netherlands after World War II. The Canadian Reformed Churches came into being with these immigrants. The first Canadian Reformed congregation was instituted in Coaldale, Alberta, on April 16, 1950. Today, our federation includes over 50 congregations and some 15,000 members.

The Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church was instituted on Aug. 16, 1970. From our history, and from a survey of our membership, many have labelled us a “Dutch” church. It’s true that a majority of the members of the congregation are descended from Dutch immigrants, but as a church of Jesus Christ, our identity is not determined by our ethnic background. We are first and foremost followers of Christ, and all who want to follow Him and serve Him have a place in our congregation.

John 3:16

For Godsolovedtheworld, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.